Living in London; Traveling and Eating Everywhere

No. 9 Park, Boston

Normally when I travel, I look forward to finding good places to eat and then blogging about it. But for some reason, I think of trips back to the US as somehow not “counting” as travel. And so I rarely blog about places I like in the US. Which is stupid.

So let me tell you about a restaurant in Boston where I enjoyed a leisurely, tasty, sophisticated lunch a few weeks ago: No. 9 Park.

oysters starter at No. 9 Park

No. 9 Park sits on the Boston Common, which prides itself on being the oldest public park in America (dating back to 1634 – LOL). The dining room was simple and comfortable – I felt like I’d walked into a well-renovated (a Gordon Ramsay-owned, even) gastropub. And I liked that. I liked that a much-hyped “special occasion” restaurant in Boston felt so casual. I know Americans occasionally push the casual envelope a little too far, but I do wonder: why does a well-cooked meal using high-quality ingredients served by attentive, knowledgeable waiters have to come with thick carpeting and showy chandeliers (a la France)?

seared foie gras starter at No. 9 Park

No. 9 Park falls into the popular category of “New American” (which has its English equivalent in the equally-non-descriptive “Modern British”). The ingredients and sauces are identifiably French, which is fine by me. I never say no to oysters, foie gras and duck confit, and with the seared foie gras in mind, I’d say No. 9 Park knows how to source.

duck confit at No. 9 Park

None of the dishes were especially creative (meaning there were no flavor or ingredient pairings that made me wonder “how’d she think of that?”), but everything I ate was well prepared and delicious.

At $42 for a three-course meal that included foie gras and several cheeses from the chock-full-of-interesting-local-and-French cheeses trolley, No. 9 Park struck me as great value. It was an elegant, welcoming place to grab lunch and catch up with old friends.

Our servers seemed a tad too chirpy, but that’s likely just me reacting after months of more reserved service in Europe. I loved that my (tap) water glass was never empty, and our servers always seemed happy to answer our questions. I felt right at home. You will, too, so drop by the next time you’re in Beantown.

[…] eat at B&G Oysters, which is owned by chef Barbara Lynch, whose New American place, No. 9 Park, I really enjoyed last December. But B&G was fully booked, so Neptune Oyster’s no-reservations policy was my best hope […]

[…] December 2008: I enjoyed an outstanding-value £25 lunch at Murano and a beautiful and delicious – but much pricier – lunch at Petersham Nurseries before heading back to the U.S. for the holidays. Obviously, while back in the US, I decided I ought to eat more French food, with one especially-memorable lunch with old friends at No. 9 Park in Boston. […]